An experiment was conducted at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya to study the effect of different low doses of gamma radiation on shelf-life and post-harvest quality of off-season locally popular guava cultivar (Khaza) of West Bengal. Freshly harvested fruits in March 2016, stored at ambient storage condition were exposed to four doses gamma-radiation (0, 100, 200 and 300 Gy) using Cobalt-60 isotope with an energy and dose rate of 1.33MeV and of 4.94 kGy/h, respectively. Irradiation of guava fruits with 200 Gy gamma-radiations significantly increased the post-harvest life (93.8%) without any negative impacts in fruit quality (firmness, titratable acidity, soluble solids content and vitamin C) as well as sensory quality parameters (appearance, taste, texture and flavour) as compared to non-irradiated fruits. The same treatment also reduced physiological loss in weight and unmarketable fruit %. Irradiation treatments also helped to retain crispiness in guava by slowing down ripening process than non-irradiated fruits.

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